Elk Hunting with Harry
Harry and I during our first day in the woods together. He’s even rocking a Rocky Mountain Sportswomen beanie I sent him years ago!
Meet Harry. I’ve always considered him as a “bonus” father for most of my life. After my own father died a couple of years ago, I told Harry, “well, I guess you’re my dad now.” Growing up with his 4 kids in Western North Carolina, his two daughters still remain my closest friends. It wasn’t until I became an adult and getting into hunting myself that I learned Harry is also an avid hunter. He had taken a hiatus from it for several years as he was very busy with 4 kids (plus me, the bonus child, a lot of the time), and a full time practicing physician. But he now tells me that if he knew I was going to be into hunting, he would have taken me as a kid. Over the last several years visiting back home, I was always sure to visit with Harry, and his wife Karen for dinner or a cocktail, and we’d share our hunting stories together. I always mentioned how he should come out for an elk hunt with me sometime.
Winter of 2024, he and his family were visiting Telluride, and invited me to come ski with them for a couple of days. I brought the Colorado big game brochure with me and went over some of the tags he should put in for. Lo and behold, he ended up drawing an either sex 1st season tag for one of our favorite local units that I know very well.
Showing Harry some elk antler rubs.
As October quickly approached, I was getting very excited but also nervous for the hunt, as I’ve never guided anyone, let alone someone who’s never elk hunted before. The rut action is different from what I’m used to during the September archery season, and the weather was extremely dry. But, I knew no matter what, we were going to have the best time being in the woods together, and continuing to grow our bond.
The first several days were spent bouncing around a few different areas of the unit that I knew pretty well walking around looking for any fresh sign. But with it being so hot and dry, it was hard to find. There were a couple of places where we spotted some fresh elk tracks, and had spent a couple of days posted up waiting for any activity to pass through. Harry is very much a whitetail hunting and is comfortable sitting and waiting in one spot for hours on end. This approach was fine for a while as it was so hot that it was hard to predict any elk movement, but after a while, we had to get up and move around. I get restless, and elk hunting requires moving around a bit. The whole week we didn't hear a single elk bugle, or find very much fresh sign on the ground. It was a bit disheartening, but we were committed to taking full advantage of the short season.
Harry is one of the most patient people I have ever met.
Even though we didn’t see any elk, we did have encounters with a big bear, a fox, pine martens, mule deer, and several grouse, which is all part of the Rocky Mountain hunting experience. One evening, we even hiked out in the dark without headlamps and relied solely on the bright moonlight. It reminded us both of a moment when I was a kid in North Carolina, and he was bringing me home after spending the day with his family. I lived on a steep driveway in the woods, and it had snowed enough that it was impassable by car. He walked me home by the moonlight reflecting off the snow, and it was a moment I’ll always remember, and now relatable to hunting with him.
On the very last day, we decided to give it a Hail Mary for the final afternoon of the season, and head down to the bottom of a basin that we were avoiding due to the steep, uphill pack out that would ensue if we were to kill something. With lots of water and steep terrain around, we immediately found some fresh elk sign and sat in the big field at the bottom for several hours waiting for dark. However, I had a hunch that the elk were likely bedded up on the hillside in the woods behind us, so we changed positions in hopes our wind didn’t already spook them out.
One of the many gorgeous views from our week of hunting.
About 30 minutes before last light, we decided to go ahead and call it, seeing that the elk probably wouldn’t make it down to this field for another hour or so with the extremely windy conditions. We were dreading the hike out as it was, so we decided to get a head start while it was still light. I told Harry, “Keep that gun loaded though, just in case we see something on the way out.” I’m sure he had his doubts as we basically already threw the towel and concluded that even though we didn’t see or hear an elk during the whole 5 day season, we still had a great hunt and learned a lot.
Hiking out, the sun began to fade and we were making our way around a corner on the trail where there was a big steep field up on the left. Before coming around the corner I heard “mew, mew.” The sounds of a cow elk. I stopped immediately and looked at Harry and said they were just on the other side of the aspens in the field around the corner! I quickly checked our wind, which was perfectly going downhill away from the elk, dropped our packs and instructed Harry to crawl up the steep bank side, through the trees. I stayed about 40 yards behind him looking through my binoculars to see what was going on and not risk spooking the elk. He fumbled his way through the aspens with adrenaline running through him, unsure if this was going to work out. Through my binos I could see a few cows standing in the field on the other side of the trees. I watched Harry lean next to a tree to get stable, calmly look through his scope, and BOOM! He’s used to whitetail dropping after one shot, but we had a conversation about shooting until they’re down with a big elk. As I was waiting for another shot, he let out three more. I quickly approached him, thinking she might be down as I saw the other cows run off. Assuming he shot a cow, I yelled to him, “Is she down?!” He responded by saying it’s a bull and that he was still standing there. I could now see this bull through my binoculars and he was clearly hit, but wasn’t going down. Harry quickly reloaded again, and waited for the bull to turn broadside. Once he turned slightly, Harry took a shot and put one in his neck, instantly dropping him to the ground. I ran up to Harry and gave him a huge hug in disbelief of what just happened. Bull down.
It all went down so fast, and all within the last few minutes of legal light on the last day of the season. I ran down to the trail to grab our packs and text my friends on my Garmin inReach GPS device that we had a bull down. We approached the 5x5 bull in awe, and saw that each shot Harry took hit him in the lungs, but it was just taking him a while to go down. They are such tough animals. We immediately got to work with the knives, and kept looking at each other in disbelief that we were cleaning an elk together, just him and myself. I still have yet to kill an elk for myself, but have had a few experiences packing them out, so I had a pretty good idea of how to approach the situation. Harry has processed many deer in his life, but nothing like the size of an elk.
Getting the shot before we lost light.
Proud moment being the guide for my godfather!
Hiking out in the moonlight once again!
Heavy packs and big smiles!
After finishing one half of the elk, the night was getting late, and we saw two headlamps coming up the hill. Behind the lights were Jesse and Andy coming in for reinforcements, beer, and food. What an incredible experience to share with my godfather that I will truly never forget. The grueling, steep uphill pack out wasn’t near as bad as we were expecting due to the adrenaline of the evening, and hiking out under the moonlight yet again. The “Hunter’s Moon” had risen perfectly, lighting up the trail. We once again reminisced on our several moonlit hikes together, this one being the most special. We got home late in the evening, hitting our pillows at about 2am.
Both Harry and I are still in shock with this hunt almost a year later, and I’m so proud to have guided him throughout the season. It gave me confidence in my hunting abilities, and being able to teach someone life in the elk woods. He got the full experience from the slow, long days with no action, to the quick run and gun experience of putting one down. Harry will always be family to me, and has provided so much for me throughout my life. Sharing this experience with him will always go down as one of my fondest memories, and I will never forget it.
